1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile systems and particularly to the management of subscriber data therein.
2 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A solution for maintaining subscriber data in a home location register (HLR) and in a visitor location register (VLR) is previously known in for example the GSM system (Global System for Mobile Communication). In this case, the home location register maintains subscriber data regarding all mobile subscribers in a network. The structure of a home location register is a computer and a data storage associated therewith. As a mobile subscriber moves in the mobile network, necessary subscriber data are copied from the home location register to the visitor location register within whose area the mobile subscriber is located at each particular time. At the same time, information on the visitor location register in whose area the mobile subscriber is located is stored in the home location register. A visitor location register may be located in association with a mobile services switching centre, in which case the area of the visitor register may be the area covered by said mobile services switching centre.
In the above solution, problems are caused by increasing amounts of data in mobile networks and the associated need for a higher processing capacity, and the difficulty of adding supplementary functions. Increasing numbers of subscribers in mobile networks and services that are more versatile are causes of increased amounts of data. Typical functions requiring much capacity include transfer of service profiles associated with subscriber management and monitoring, and maintenance and transfer of location data. The present system, which is based on mobile services switching centre technology, is mainly intended for use with telephone technology, and does not possess the required processing capacity. When a new type of service is added to the present system, the centre always has to adapt a new program. A mobile services switching centre is not either an efficient means for browsing through data.
The object of the invention is to solve the above problems by providing a solution allowing simpler management of large amounts of subscriber data in a mobile system. This object is achieved with a mobile system comprising a mobile network having a mobile services switching centre for switching connections in the mobile network, and at least one subscriber database server for maintaining data on the subscribers of the mobile network. This mobile system is characterized in that the mobile services switching centre comprises means for querying for and receiving subscriber data from the subscriber database server wherein subscriber data are maintained in www (World Wide Web) page format, and the subscriber database server comprises at least one www page for each subscriber in the mobile network, in which page the subscriber's subscriber data are stored, the search address of the www page being created based on the subscriber's identity.
The invention also relates to a mobile services switching centre for switching connections in a mobile network. The mobile services switching centre is characterized in that the mobile services switching centre comprises means for querying for and receiving subscriber data from a subscriber database server wherein subscriber data are maintained in www page format.
The invention further relates to a subscriber data main server for maintaining subscriber data in a mobile network. The main server is characterized in that the main server comprises, for each subscriber in the mobile network, at least one www page wherein the subscriber's subscriber data are stored, the search address of the www page being created based on the subscriber's identity.
The invention still further relates to a subscriber data local server for temporary storage of subscriber data. The local server is characterized in that it comprises means for receiving queries for the subscriber data from a mobile services switching centre, means for retrieving the queried subscriber data from a database in the local server, means for retrieving the queried subscriber data further from a main server if said data are not found in the database of the local server, means for transferring the retrieved subscriber data to the mobile services switching centre, and means for storing the retrieved subscriber data in the local server in www page format.
The idea of the invention is to apply www, http (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), html (Hypertext Markup Language), IP (Internet Protocol) and other Internet technology in the subscriber databases instead of the present HLR/VLR technology. This means that the data of a mobile subscriber in a subscriber database server are used to create at least one www page from which a mobile switching centre queries for information required by different functions. For this reason, the mobile services switching centre has to be provided with an IP interface, via which call control and other programs requiring data are able to query for the information they require, i.e. www pages. The mobile services switching centre uses a www address as the search address, the address indicating the desired subscriber data page and being created based on the subscriber's identity and a control function. It may be said that the mobile services switching centre provides a path for data to be transferred, but the data associated with special services are processed and managed in the IP network. The use of an IP network having higher-capacity hardware facilitates data retrieval and management. As services become more versatile, necessary new functions are increasingly easier to incorporate into IP network servers with different programming tools.
In a first preferred embodiment of the mobile system of the invention, the system comprises a subscriber data main server wherein subscriber-specific www pages are stored, and at least one subscriber data local server between a mobile services switching centre and the main server for temporarily maintaining subscriber data. In this case, the local server is used for buffering subscriber data. Since not all queries have to be transferred all the way to the main server, but the data are found in the local server, access to data does not become unnecessarily slow even in a large network.
In a first preferred embodiment of the subscriber data main server of the invention, the main server comprises at least a subscriber-specific main page wherein the most generally needed subscriber data are stored and whereto said search address points, and at least one subpage wherein the subscriber data needed in special cases are stored and whose search address is created by completing the search address of said main page. This division also aims at faster data retrieval.
In a second preferred embodiment of the subscriber data main server of the invention, the main server comprises means for maintaining a www page specific log regarding subscriber data queries such that the log contains information on the local server that sent a query for a page and the time the query was sent. For example, when an operator or dispatcher changes the subscriber data, the changed data have to be transferred to the local servers that, based on a time stamp, have corresponding usable data. In this case, a check can be made in the log to find out the location of such no-good data and transfer an update there.
In a first preferred embodiment of the subscriber data local server of the invention, the local server comprises means for providing the new or changed subscriber data to be stored in the local server with a time stamp, means for checking the time stamp when the next query or notice of change regarding the same subscriber data is received, means for selecting the stored data if a predetermined term from the storage has not lapsed. This avoids unnecessary data searches. Once certain subscriber data have been queried for, the data may be stored in the local server, provided with a time stamp. If the same data are queried for again soon, the data do not have to be searched for again in the main server, but sufficiently recent stored data can be used directly. This requires that a term be set indicating how long the old data are usable.
The preferred embodiments of the mobile system, mobile services switching centre, main server and local server of the invention are disclosed in the attached dependent claims.
The figures schematically show different data search and management cases. For example, they may describe the invention applied to the TETRA system (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) or some other mobile system.